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In Need

My little Cavalier is in need of losing a few pounds (well okay me too). Sadly where we lived before moving to Northumberland. Our home (at that time) was up on a hill and this meant daily up and down for shopping, etc etc and also for limited walking for Kirra as it was becoming a strain for me with my medical condition.

So any tips for helping my sweet Princess to lose some pounds and of course any tips for me too

We now live in a beautiful location within Northumberland and the setting is ideal for dog walking and indeed the grounds of this stately home is a joy for Kirra to explore at every opportunity.

She can spot rabbit droppings a mile away

Where Kirra and 'I' now live

You can just spot Kirra at the bottom of the photo, doing her CSI inspection.

Last edited by islewriter; 23rd March 2011 at 10:13 AM.
Reason: update with photo

Hey what a lovely place to live. Lucky you! I was talking to a couple on my daily walk the other day and they were telling me that one of their dogs had to lose some weight and their vet said tinned sardines with grated carrot twice a week. I have been feeding my two this once a week and they just love it. As soon as the snoods come out they are so excited, shaking and crying. Lol. My husband and I have just been on a diet and I lost 12 kilos and he lost 19 kilos. We both feel great for it. It was hard going but worth it it in end. Now all we have to do is keep it off! Just a case of changing your life style and smaller portions.

You are so lucky living in Northumberland - those gorgeous beaches! I find the quickest way of getting weight down is a few weeks on Burns High Oats - this is low calory, so you can give quite a lot of food, but it really does reduce the pounds. The aim is to get weight off gradually - crash diets are as useless for dogs as they are for humans! Burns is intended to be used only until the target weight is reached and then move Kirra back on to ordinary food, while still controlling the amount. This works very well with my Aled, who only has to look at food to put on weight! His target weight is 9kg. If he goes more than a few grams above that, he has about 50g of High Oats a day, divided into breakfast and supper, with lots of chopped up raw veg to fill him up so that he doesn't feel hungry. He enjoys carrot, cabbage, broccoli, parsnip, courgette, fresh or frozen peas and beans. He also has about one chopped up sausage a day as training treats, which I count as part of his daily food intake, so Kirra might be able to have a bit more biscuit. Once his weight is down, I put him back onto his usual Burns lamb or fish and rice, but still only 50g a day. He's very fit. Dog food manufacturers want to sell dog food, so their estimates of daily intake are usually way too high - drop them by a third and the pounds don't get put on so easily.

Hey what a lovely place to live. Lucky you! I was talking to a couple on my daily walk the other day and they were telling me that one of their dogs had to lose some weight and their vet said tinned sardines with grated carrot twice a week. I have been feeding my two this once a week and they just love it. As soon as the snoods come out they are so excited, shaking and crying. Lol. My husband and I have just been on a diet and I lost 12 kilos and he lost 19 kilos. We both feel great for it. It was hard going but worth it it in end. Now all we have to do is keep it off! Just a case of changing your life style and smaller portions.

Many thanks Deb, does sound like a tasty intake and a great way to help lose weight.

Grating the carrots sounds like a good idea, I usually give my two small pieces, which just get inhaled as opposed to chewed, and of course lucky me, I get to see them again a few hours later when I'm poop scooping

Wow.... what a beautiful beautiful home... and grounds

I love the UK anyway and this is just stunning. There are some low-fat diets for dogs including treats, but one idea for exercise is to play some games with her everyday. Play hide and seek and have her chase you! Make her come after you. That way you are both moving!

Gosh I wish Coco had that problem. My breeder said she looks a little underweight ! It is so much harder to make them eat!

Anyways, my parents have an overweight GSD mix and had a lot of success simply by changing her kibble to a diet variety. They didn't change anything else!!! You got a lot of other good tips so far too I could also lose a few lbs myself..as I have a wedding coming up in August